aya x MFO
British producer aya’s sound lives through beat socialized fragmentation as well as through her intimate, distorted vocalism. At donaufestival she will be performing with light and video artist Marcel Weber alias MFO.ABOUT
Aya is actually a real person from the north of England. Her work is primarily concerned with the transfigurative power of experience and memory on the physical body.
aya’s debut LP ‘im hole’ was released with Hyperdub on October 22, 2021 and was followed by her 'Lip Flip ' EP on her YCO label in 2024. She has previously released music with Local Action, 2BReal, Tri Angle Records, Astral Plane Recordings and Wisdom Teeth.
She co-runs the label YCO with BFTT, a home things for all things Yes Come On. Asides from her philanthropic work as self-proclaimed First Lady of the Bootleg, aya is a long time bi-monthly radio resident with NTS, whom she loves with her whole heart.
mw/mfo narrates spaces, creates sensations, and works in light, video and scenography. in the early 2000s mw/mfo started out VJing in the realms of electronic music, progressively becoming conversant with scenography and light. Working in theatre for several years was another formative influence and led to his gesamtkunstwerk understanding and performance-orientated approach. Over the years increasingly taking on an artistic vantage point, he became an avid collaborator of many; and a strong believer in exciting synergies through group potentials. mw/mfo's work are concerned with perception and cognition, with memory and identity, and with their dissolution in mind-altering experiences in the context of unlimited futures, an incomprehensible Now and underlying mythologies. mw/mfo is directing A/V performances and installations, as well as creating scenography for theatre and musical pieces. As such he also works as Berlin-Atonal‘s director for light and visuals. Recent projects of note include work with Caterina Barbieri on her “Light Years” label and solo tour, with aya in theatrical musical collaboration, with Lyra Pramuk on the large-scale installation “This Too Will Pass”, the performance pieces “Nervous System 2020” and “Snowcloud” with choreographer Guillaume Marie, a series of staged concerts for Arte TV and Tresor Records, or the operatic “Kistvaen” with Roly Porter. Further mw/mfo has been extensively touring with sound artists like Aisha Devi, Ben Frost and Tim Hecker. mw/mfo's performances and installations have been commissioned and featured at renown venues like the Barbican, British Film Institute, Centre Pompidou, CERN, Dark Mofo / Mona, Martin Gropius Bau, Kraftwerk Berlin-Mitte, Volksbühne, Muziekgebouw, Palais des Beaux-Arts Brussels and others.
Programme Text
British producer Aya Sinclair interweaves vocal intimacy with abstract sounds. She sings and speaks autobiographical texts to clattering beats, growling and grinding, and intricately spiralling melodic motifs; ear-catchy sounds merge with disconcerting vocal distortions and poltergeist throbbing and grumbles. She performs at donaufestival with the light and video artist Marcel Weber alias MFO.